Vacillate
by KatHarkness-Katara
Summary: When Q is called to join the assault on a mastermind's base, he makes a discovery that will change MI6 - for better, or worse? Set in the Daniel Craig era. Written for the 00Q Reverse Big Bang, for artwork by 10ki Aoi.


**Vacillate Chapter 1**

008 was the best. He knew his limits, he always exercised good judgement, and even when his more violent tendencies came out, he was appropriately discreet. He never took unnecessary risks. So when he called to say he was over his head, needed a full assault team, and the Quartermaster to deal with what he'd found, there was no doubt he'd get it.

Q would rather not be bundled into body armour and a riot policeman's helmet, but 008 had requested extraordinary support, thus, support 008 would get.

"R, how long since 008 went silent?" he asked.

"_Five hours, nineteen minutes,_" R answered over the comms. "_He wasn't very lucid._"

"Acknowledged," Q grunted.

008 had been injured and holed up in a store room while the assault team and Q scrambled. Even with top-of-the-range military aircraft (thanks to the doctors who'd finally found the right anti-anxiety medicine), it took hours to get from London to the Black Sea.

"M? Recommend proceeding ASAP."

"_Recommendation taken under advisement, Quartermaster,_" M answered. "_I want more intel on what you're heading into._"

"_Sir, we can't get into their CCTV,_" R reported.

Q thought. "Is there a camera close enough for me to get to?" he asked.

"_Let me check. Ah…yes. By team Gamma._"

"Acknowledged," Q said.

He slipped away from team Alpha, his assigned bodyguard shadowing, and made his way around the side of the compound. Gamma Leader stepped aside to make room for him.

"Okay, R, I see the camera. I'm going to splice a control node into the wiring, and if you still can't get access, I'll try a short-range hack for you."

"_Yes, sir. Standing by._"

Q unslung his laptop bag and passed it to Gamma Leader, swinging his tool bag around for easier and quicker access. He locked eyes with his bodyguard and held up three fingers. Two. One. He scurried out, keeping firmly on the camera's blind side. He pressed against the wall, his bodyguard next to him.

He looked directly up at the camera, and rooted through his tool bag. Control node, wire strippers, extra wire, insulation tape…and he couldn't actually reach the camera. He gestured to the bodyguard, who saw the problem, knelt and offered a boost up.

Q could feel the eyes of team Gamma on him, and through their bodycams M, R and all the others running the mission back in London. Field work always felt so terribly exposed. A splice he could perform with his eyes closed at his desk became a lot more nerve-wracking when performed balanced on the back of your erstwhile bodyguard.

And then it was done. Q stepped down, repacked his tools, and darted back to safety. Gamma Leader clasped his shoulder, acknowledging the risk Q took for the sake of the teams. Q nodded back, before going for his comm.

"R, progress?"

"_Signal's a little faint, and I'm having trouble clearing it up,_" she reported. "_Can you boost it?_"

"Standby." Q reclaimed his laptop, booted it up, and started work. He quickly tapped into his spliced node's signal, and bounced it through a number of TV satellites before routing it to MI6. "Is that better?"

"_Much,_" R reported. "_M?_"

"_Good work, Q,_" the head of MI6 replied. "_Go back to team Alpha so we can proceed._"

"_Yes, sir,_" Q acknowledged, before peeling off and returning to his previous position. He slipped into position as the Chief of Staff started ordering teams to reposition.

"…_and Delta go five hundred metres west-south-west,_" Tanner finished. "_Sir? On your mark._"

There were a few tense moments of shuffling as everyone finished positioning themselves.

"_Mark._"

Alpha Leader, 2, 3 and 4 rushed straight for their entry point, a garage door. Alpha2 tried the shutter, found it locked, and beckoned Alpha 5 over. Alpha 5 quickly and expertly laid a line of plastic explosive, connected the detonator, and waited.

Right on cue, there was a large explosion as team Beta blew the main entrance. The chatter of gunfire filled the air. Q knew teams Gamma and Delta were starting through their own breach point, Gamma through a side door and Delta up, over and down through a skylight. Taking advantage of the distraction, Alpha Leader nodded to Alpha 5, who detonated his explosives.

There was a nasty crunch of metal, followed by the door falling off. Alpha Leader waited for it to settle before signalling and leading the advance.

The interior of the building was starkly lit, clinical in the way only hospitals and illegal testing laboratories can manage. Team Beta's frontal assault meant they were unopposed as they headed first to 008's last reported location.

The store room the agent had sought refuge in was on the first of five sub-levels. They encountered two guards on the stairs. The guards only managed to squeeze off one shot between them before Alphas 2 and 3 dropped them.

"_Alpha, take the next right, then second door on the left,_" R instructed, before returning to directing team Gamma to the compound's armoury.

Q kept pace, nested in the middle of the pack as his bodyguard protected his back. They stopped at the indicated door, and Alpha Leader rapped on it.

"008, your backup. Zulu, zulu, hotel, quebec."

When there was no response to the code phrase, Alpha Leader looked at Q, who nodded. Alpha Leader tried the door. He found it locked, so Alpha 3 passed him some lock picks. A bit of jiggling later, it opened smoothly, and Alpha Leader stepped out of view in case the potentially twitchy agent started firing.

There was nothing.

After a moment, Alpha Leader looked inside, and cursed, "Q? You better see…"

Q darted over, a sinking feeling in his stomach. His fears were confirmed. 008 was pressed into a corner, blood pooling at his feet, but limp, eyes open and unseeing, gun fallen from nerveless fingers. Q reached forward and felt for a pulse. None. The body was already cool.

"M, this is Q," he reported. "We've found 008. Agent down."

There was a deep sigh from multiple voices, "_Acknowledged, Quartermaster,_" M replied for all. "_Any idea how long…?_"

"I'd say a few hours," Q replied.

It was almost a relief; if the body had been warm, they would have only just been too late. But a few hours was too long ago. They couldn't have been faster. Not that the loss wasn't still bitter.

Q bit back his grief. They still had a mission to complete. 008 had found something, and been shot for it. Now they had to work out what secrets had cost the agent his life.

"He said he made a map when exploring," Q said. "Is it…can anyone…?"

Q started methodically going through 008's pockets in a vain hope of finding something, anything.

"Sir." Alpha 2 passed him a page he'd found lying on a shelf.

Q took it. "That looks right, yes," he said. "R, are you seeing this?"

"_Alpha Leader, could you angle your bodycam a little more left? Got it now. We'll match that up to the cameras,_" R reported.

"There's a large areas marked ʻLabʼ with three question marks," Q said. "Who's closest to that?"

"_Alpha,_" R told him. "_Beta is occupied and Gamma and Delta are in the wrong areas._"

"Well, there's nothing we can do for 008, so request permission to investigate the lab?" Q asked.

"_Granted, Quartermaster,_" M answered.

Alpha Leader leaned over the map, and Q stepped back to let the team pick out their route. His bodyguard shuffle him back into the centre of the pack as they moved off.

Beta's attack on the front gate seemed to have drawn out all the remaining guards, so they encountered no opposition as they headed deeper into the compound. The team reached ʻLab?ʼ with ease.

Q waited while the team secured the room, which was unusually quick, and without a shot being fired. Alpha Leader called Q in.

The room was large, twice the height of a normal room and filled with benches and cabinets. Every available open space was clustered with glassware, instruments and computers. One wall appeared to be a window onto an underground lake, while another had nearly a dozen man-sized giant tubes, one bubbling with something cloudy. There were two men and three women in lab coats with their hands in the air being covered by Alpha 3.

Q pulled off his riot helmet. "Is this everyone here?" he asked. "Five scientists and a double-handful of guards aren't enough for a facility this size."

"We haven't found anyone else," Alpha Leader reported.

"Um?" one of the women waved her hand. "Everyone else left a few weeks ago. We stayed to finish creating Subject 7. And he's a bit delicate at this stage, so…can we get back to that?"

Q blinked. "What's Subject 7?"

She pointed to the clouded tube. Q turned to it.

The clouds of bubbles shifted through the medium, and Q could barely make out a figure floating in it. He approached, getting a better look. It was a man, very muscular and very naked, with the face of James Bond.

Q stared up, laying a hand on the tube.

"Shit," he breathed. "Just what were they trying to accomplish here?"

End Note:

Please see 10ki Aoi's Tumblr post with the art! (remove spaces)  
10kiaoi .tumblr post /190349039422 /hello-folks-00qreversebang-has-been-in-the


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